Hersh: ‘Bush And Cheney’s Wet Dream Is Hitting Iran’

In February, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh wrote a piece in The New Yorker revealing that the Bush administration was setting its sights heavily on Iran, planning for a “possible bombing attack“.

On Tuesday, Hersh spoke more on the Bush administration’s focus on Iran at the Campus Progress National Conference. He said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are ignoring the actual intelligence on Iran. The “intelligence community keeps on saying, ‘There’s no bomb there.’ And Cheney keeps on saying to the young briefing officers, ‘Thank you son, I don’t buy that.’” Hersh added, “George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s wet dream is hitting Iran.” (...)

Beavis and Butthead in London jihad

by Thomas C. Greene

Oh, the Piccadilly fireball would have blown the car's windows out, and popped its doors open, and sent various bits like mirrors and so forth into the air at velocities possibly fatal to people nearby. It would have looked really cool, that's for sure. But an explosive event...a detonation? Not in a million years. Sorry lads: you failed car bombing 101; you did not attend a single lecture; you did not even open the textbook. (...)

Britain raises terror threat level to critical

Britain's security alert level was raised to critical on Saturday — the highest possible level, indicating terrorist attacks are imminent. (...)

Car is rammed into Glasgow airport, explodes

Two men crashed a car into the main doors of the Glasgow airport today, and it exploded in a ball of flames just inside the terminal. Authorities arrested the men and shut down Scotland's busiest airport, but there were no reports of casualties among passengers or other visitors. (...)

Bush likely to lobby Putin on Iran

President Bush plans to seek Russia's assistance in putting pressure on Iran's nuclear program when Vladimir Putin comes calling this weekend. (...)

NYPD floods city streets after Brit terror scare

Machine gun-toting cops in riot gear were dispatched to key spots around the city, while others set up vehicle checkpoints. Police brass dramatically increased the number of officers in subways through the morning and evening rush hours.

"Seeing all the cop cars rush by is a little chilling," said Atlanta tourist Stephanie Johnson as she stopped in Times Square. "But the idea of a car bomb going off is even worse. It's a sign of the times."

"No one seemed scared," said Angel Matta, 56, as he watched from an NYPD vehicle checkpoint on W. 57th St. and Ninth Ave.

"All they do is pull people over and check their trunks. On big trucks they'll check the wheels. They should do it more often. If it keeps us safe, they should do it all the time," Matta said. (...)

terrorism (těr'ə-rĭz'əm)
n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. (American Heritage Dictionary)

(Mary Altaffer/ AP Photo)

Iraq weapons inspection program ends

The Security Council on Friday shut down the weapons inspection program that was at the heart of the U.N.'s effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The team of inspectors, known as the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, did not find the weapons that the U.S. and Britain said had been stockpiled by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The two nations' insistence that such weapons posed an imminent danger was the basis of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. (...)

U.S. Supreme Court reverses course on Guantánamo detainees

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed course Friday and agreed to hear claims of Guantánamo detainees that they have a right to challenge their detentions in American federal courts. (...)

Two car bombs found in West End

The second device was found in a blue 280E model Mercedes. It was given a parking ticket at 0230 BST on Friday after being found illegally parked in Cockspur Street. (...)

Again, looks like it was meant to be found.

City May Seek Permit and Insurance for Many Kinds of Public Photography

New rules being considered by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance.

The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment. (...)

Incredible.

Car bomb would have caused 'carnage'

Police were alerted to a suspicious silver Mercedes car in the heart of theatreland by ambulance crew who noticed smoke inside it.

One witness said that door staff at the nightclub Tiger, Tiger alerted police after the car was driven into bins last night and the driver ran off.

The witness said the large silver saloon car was being driven "erratically" before the minor crash. The driver was not stopped. (...)

Either we're dealing with a very clumsy terrorist, or this was meant to be found.

Genesis World Report - Webster Tarpley (June 28)

(audio link)

Police avert car bomb 'carnage'

A car bomb planted in central London would have caused "carnage" if it had exploded, police sources have said.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the car, packed with 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, in the early hours in Haymarket. (...)

This could be meant as a message to Gordon Brown, right on his first day on the job: "Play along, Blair's policies are to be continued..."

The Philadelphia Emergency Anti-War Convention

Guns & Butter

Interview with author and activist Webster G. Tarpley announcing the July 4th Philadelphia Emergency Anti-War Convention, convened in response to the instability and political crisis occurring in the national anti-war movement and both major political parties, opening the way for the formation of a new political coalition of anti-war, anti-dictatorship, impeachment, 9/11 truth, and other activists. Comments supporting 9/11 truth by both Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore are included.

(audio link)

U.S. intelligence chief concerned over Russia's spying

The U.S. intelligence chief said Thursday he was concerned about increased levels of Russian intelligence operations against the United States. (...)

Bolton: I'm 'very worried' for Israel

Sanctions and diplomacy have failed and it may be too late for internal opposition to oust the Islamist regime, leaving only military intervention to stop Iran's drive to nuclear weapons, the US's former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. (...)

White House refuses to turn over subpoenaed papers

President Bush, moving toward a constitutional showdown with Congress, asserted executive privilege Thursday and rejected lawmakers' demands for documents that could shed light on the firings of federal prosecutors. (...)

Next Generation of 'Family Jewels'?

by Robert Parry

The CIA’s belated release of its infamous “Family Jewels” sheds light on U.S. intelligence abuses during the CIA’s first quarter century, but this openness may actually obscure a darker reality – that the subsequent three-plus decades have witnessed worse national-security crimes committed under the cloak of greater secrecy and deception. (...)

Senate subpoenas WHouse documents in spying probe

A congressional panel investigating the Bush administration's domestic spying program subpoenaed documents on Wednesday from the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney's office, the National Security Council and the Justice Department. (...)

Aspartame linked to cancer: study

The US Food and Drug Administration says there is no need for an urgent review of the safety of aspartame, despite a new study showing the sweetener may cause cancer.

A US consumer group has called for the review after Italian researchers published a new study that showed aspartame - widely used in soft drinks - might cause leukaemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats. (...)

The "Use of the Armed Forces" in America under a National Emergency

by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Unrestricted powers are granted to the White House. The President would have the authority of suspending civilian law enforcement at the federal and state levels and calling in the Military, with a view to suppressing 'domestic violence' 'insurrection'( e.g. public rallies), or 'conspiracy', meaning anybody who might express dissent, indignation or opposition to the Bush Administration for having scrapped the Constitution. (...)

Blair taking on Middle East role

Tony Blair has stood down as an MP as he was confirmed as an international envoy to the Middle East within hours of his resignation as Prime Minister.

The international diplomatic Quartet of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia announced Mr Blair's appointment as its representative in the search for peace in the region. (...)

In related news, Satan was just given a new job, taking care of little children...

Scholars Urge Bush to Ban Use of Torture

President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States. (...)

Giuliani talks tough on terrorism

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani took his tough talk on security to a synagogue Tuesday, touting his support for Israel, promising to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and likening the threat of what he called "Islamic terrorism" to that posed by Nazi Germany. (...)

Does he ever talk about anything else?...

Whitman on hot seat over 9/11 aftermath

Ex-EPA chief Christie Whitman was bombarded by boos and a host of accusations at a hearing into her assurances that it had been safe to breathe the air around the fallen World Trade Center.

A study of more than 20,000 people by Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York concluded that, since the attacks, 70 percent of ground zero workers have suffered some sort of respiratory illness. A separate study released last month found that rescue workers and firefighters contracted sarcoidosis, a serious lung-scarring disease, at a rate more than five times as high as in the years before the attacks. (...)

She needs to go to jail.

Record opium crop in southern Afghanistan

Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where some 7,000 British troops are based, is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest drugs supplier, cultivating more opium than entire countries such as Burma, Morocco, or even Colombia, the UN warned yesterday. (...)

Related: Heroin is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

CIA conspired with mafia to kill Castro

The CIA conspired with a Chicago gangster described as "the chieftain of the Cosa Nostra and the successor to Al Capone" in a bungled 1960 attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba's communist revolution, according to classified documents published by the agency yesterday. (...)

Norman Mineta Confirms Dick Cheney Was in PEOC Before Pentagon Attack Contradicting 9/11 Report

Former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta answered questions from members of 9/11 Truth Seattle.org about his testimony before the 9/11 Commission report.

Mineta says Vice President Cheney was "absolutely" already there when he arrived at approximately 9:25 a.m. in the PEOC (Presidential Emergency Operations Center) bunker on the morning of 9/11. Mineta seemed shocked to learn that the 9/11 Commission Report claimed Cheney had not arrived there until 9:58-- after the Pentagon had been hit, a report that Mineta definitively contradicted. (...)

Voinovich, Lugar call on Bush to plan Iraq withdrawal

In an ominous sign of wavering GOP support for the White House's Iraq strategy, two more Republican senators have called on President Bush to begin planning the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. (...)

Whatever support Bush and Cheney have left will be gone by September. They need "something" to happen until then...

Divide and Rule, Israeli-style

by Jonathan Cook

By engineering the destruction of the unity government, Israel and the US have ensured that there is no danger of a new Palestinian consensus emerging, one that might have cornered Israel into peace talks. A unity government might have found a formula offering Israel: * limited recognition inside the pre-1967 borders in return for recognition of a Palestinian state and the territorial integrity of the West Bank and Gaza; * a long-term ceasefire in return for Israel ending its campaign of constant violence and violations of Palestinian sovereignty; * and a commitment to honour past agreements in return for Israel’s abiding by UN resolutions and accepting a just solution for the Palestinian refugees.

After decades of Israeli bad faith, and the growing rancour between Fatah and Hamas, the chances of them finding common ground on which to make such an offer, it must be admitted, would have been slight. But now they are non-existent.

That is exactly how Israel wants it, because it has no interest in meaningful peace talks with the Palestinians or in a final agreement. It wants only to impose solutions that suit Israel’s interests, which are securing the maximum amount of land for an exclusive Jewish state and leaving the Palestinians so weak and divided that they will never be able to mount a serious challenge to Israel’s dictates.

Instead, Hamas’ dismal authority over the prison camp called Gaza and Fatah’s bastard governance of the ghettoes called the West Bank offer a model more satisfying for Israel and the US -- and one not unlike Iraq. A sort of sheriff’s divide and rule in the Wild West.

Just as in Iraq, Israel and the US have made sure that no Palestinian strongman arises to replace Yasser Arafat. Just as in Iraq, they are encouraging civil war as an alternative to resistance to occupation, as Palestine’s resources -- land, not oil -- are stolen. Just as in Iraq, they are causing a permanent and irreversible partition, in this case between the West Bank and Gaza, to create more easily managed territorial ghettoes. And just as in Iraq, the likely reaction is an even greater extremism from the Palestinians that will undermine their cause in the eyes of the international community. (...)

Mid-East group debates Blair role

The Quartet of Middle East mediators from the EU, Russia, the UN and US has discussed the appointment of Tony Blair as special envoy for the region.

It is expected that Mr Blair will be offered the job after he steps down as UK prime minister on Wednesday. (...)

Tony Blair as a peace envoy can only be some kind of sick joke.

Israel braces for July war with up to five enemies

Israel is preparing for an imminent war with Iran, Syria and/or their non-state clients.

Israeli military intelligence has projected that a major attack could come from any of five adversaries in the Middle East. Officials said such a strike could spark a war as early as July 2007. (...)

Why we must demand a referendum on the EU

by Daniel Hannan

The purpose of the Brussels summit was to allow the seven EU leaders who had promised a plebiscite to tiptoe away from their pledges. Ireland and Denmark are lucky enough to have rules that trigger a vote whenever any constitutional change is proposed. But the other leaders have joined hands and sworn a terrible oath: no referendums anywhere, in case the sight of one country voting should prompt demand in others. We don’t want the voters picking up any ideas, hein? (...)

We won't be fooled out of our referendum

This is worse than we expected. We had assumed that, in order to sustain their line that their new treaty was different from the constitution, British ministers would have to rewrite some parts of the draft.

In fact, the two texts are virtually identical. Titles have been altered, terminology tweaked, but there have been no substantive changes.

The EU will carry on agglomerating the attributes and trappings of statehood: a president, a foreign minister (now to be called the High Representative for Foreign Affairs), a legal system and, not least, the right to enter into relations with other states as a sovereign entity. (...)

Bush Directive for a "Catastrophic Emergency" in America: Building a Justification for Waging War on Iran?

by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

In the immediate wake of the invasion of Iraq (April 2003), various national security procedures were put in place which focused on the eventuality of a "Second 911". These initiatives in the area of Homeland Security outlined the precise circumstances under which martial law could be declared in the case of a second major terrorist attack on America. (...)

Democrat-Led House Lays Legal Groundwork for Korea-Style Bases in Iraq

by Jim Lobe

It seems the Democratic-led House of Representatives Thursday approved an amendment that, contrary to the leadership’s intention, lays the legal groundwork for a protracted – if not “permanent” — U.S. military presence in Iraq. (...)

Special Operations Prepared for Domestic Missions

by William M. Arkin

The U.S. Northern Command, the military command responsible for "homeland defense," has asked the Pentagon if it can establish its own special operations command for domestic missions. The request, reported in the Washington Examiner, would establish a permanent sub-command for responses to incidents of domestic terrorism as well as other occasions where special operators may be necessary on American soil.

The establishment of a domestic special operations mission, and the preparation of contingency plans to employ commandos in the United States, would upend decades of tradition. Military actions within the United States are the responsibility of state militias (the National Guard), and federal law enforcement is a function of the FBI.

Employing special operations for domestic missions sounds very ominous, and NORTHCOM's request earlier this year should receive the closest possible Pentagon and congressional scrutiny. There's only one problem: NORTHCOM is already doing what it has requested permission to do. (...)

Deal paves way for EU to move on

The treaty is set to include most of the main points of the failed constitution, such as:

. a full-time president of the European Council - the regular gatherings of prime ministers and presidents
. a new foreign affairs chief, with the profile and the budget to give the EU more clout on the world stage
. fewer national veto powers

The leaders in fact came to Brussels for this summit determined to do everything to pre-empt calls for referendums, following the experience of 2005. (...)

"We wouldn't want those annoying 'populations' getting in the way of our big centralization plans again!..." - The elite

Karzai angry over West's tactics

He criticised his Western allies' "extreme" use of force and said they should act as his government asked.

"Innocent people are becoming victims of reckless operations" because the troops had ignored Afghan advice for years, Mr Karzai told reporters. (...)

Even the puppets are getting angry.

German Officials Report Increased Threat of Terrorist Attacks

Germany faces a heightened threat of terrorist attacks because of its military involvement in Afghanistan, government security officials here said Friday. The danger level, they warned, was comparable to the months before the 9/11 attacks in the United States. (...)

Iran Denies Report of Uranium Stockpile

Iran's Interior Ministry denied a report Friday quoting the minister as saying Iran has produced 220 pounds of enriched uranium, saying he never mentioned specific numbers and spoke only about the country's nuclear achievements. (...)

Report: IAF preparing for Iran strike

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets. (...)

CIA to reveal decades of misdeeds

The US Central Intelligence Agency is to declassify hundreds of documents detailing some of the agency's worst illegal abuses from the 1950s to 1970s.

The papers, to be released next week, will detail assassination plots, domestic spying and wiretapping, kidnapping and human experiments.

"This is about telling the American people what we have done in their name," Gen Hayden told a conference of foreign policy historians.

The documents, dubbed the "Family Jewels", offer a "glimpse of a very different time and a very different agency". (...)

Of course! Everybody knows that CIA illegal activities are just a thing of the past!...

Cheney Defiant on Classified Material

Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by a congressional committee yesterday. (...)

Senators Urge Partnership With Russia

Warning that relations are in dangerous decline, senior Democratic and Republican senators urged President Bush Thursday to form a stronger partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet July 1-2.

Only Russia has enough nuclear weapons "to wipe us out," Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., said in chairing a review of strained relations with Moscow by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (...)

Michael Moore on 9/11

A third US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is speeding towards the Persian Gulf

According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border.

The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region. (...)

If true, this is scary. Three carriers very likely means war; four carriers means certain war...

Bin Laden may have arranged family's US exit: FBI docs

In all, the documents detail six flights between September 14 and September 24 that evacuated Saudi nationals and bin Laden family members, Judicial Watch said in a statement.

"Incredibly, not a single Saudi national nor any of the bin Laden family members possessed any information of investigative value," Judicial Watch said.

"These documents contain numerous errors and inconsistencies which call to question the thoroughness of the FBI's investigation of the Saudi flights." (...)

Russian military says response to Gabala test for U.S.

Russia's chief of general staff suggested Thursday Washington's insistence on its missile defense plans, and the likely rejection of Russia's offer to use a radar in Azerbaijan, will reveal the real U.S. motives.

"We are saying quite openly that, if we get no response to our proposal.... which we are ready to back up technologically, then everything will be clear. In fact, the entire world will see the real purpose of the 'third site' in Poland and the Czech Republic, and who its perceived targets are," Yury Baluyevsky told a RIA Novosti news conference. (...)

US, Israel finalise Iran strike plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Washington yesterday and met with US President George W. Bush to finalise plans for a joint US-Israel strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. (...)

Attack that killed kids targeted al-Qaida leader

According to several officials, and contrary to previous statements, the U.S. military knew there were children at the compound but considered the target of such high value it was worth the risk of potential collateral damage. (...)

Sceptical After Second Shrine Attack

by Ali al-Fadhily

"We now realise the plot more than we did before," Mustafa Hussain from the predominately Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad told IPS, "I am not sure who is doing this and I do not have the habit of speculating, but now I, and most Iraqis, are sure it is just a conspiracy to divide Iraqis into Shiite and Sunnis. All this was planned and paid for by people outside our country and community."

After the bombing, the Iraqi government immediately imposed curfew across Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities, in addition to dispatching large numbers of Iraqi troops to Samarra.

Nevertheless, many Iraqis believe the bombing was not carried out by al-Qaeda.

"They are dreaming of evicting the people of Samarra in order to deepen the wound in the Iraqi flesh," 35-year-old Yassir al-Samarrai'i, a local television reporter from Samarra told IPS in Baghdad, "Their problem is that Iraqis are still reluctant to engage in full scale civil war despite all the dirty business the occupiers have conducted to ignite it by these shrine explosions." (...)

A Dream Called Electricity

by Ali al-Fadhily

It is a part of the bigger dream of reconstruction that collapsed. On all measurable levels, the infrastructure is worse than under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, even when it was crippled by the harshest economic sanctions in modern history.

Iraqis lack security, jobs, potable water, and these days when it really pinches, electricity.

Most people IPS spoke to in Baghdad said they get one hour of electricity in 24 hours.

Abdul Sattar believes that the occupation authorities "could have provided electricity in a few months if they wanted to, but this problem is useful for what they call creative chaos." (...)

"I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them." - George W. Bush , Jan. 14, 2007, on CBS

G7 Play Thermonuclear Chess with Putin

by F. William Engdahl

In other words, missile “defense” is not defensive at all. It is offensive. If one of two nuclear opponents has nuclear strike ability and even a modest shield against retaliation from the other, he has what NATO strategists have dreamed of since the mid-1950’s: Nuclear Primacy. You can simply dictate terms of surrender to the other. The first nation with a nuclear missile shield would de facto have ‘first strike ability.’ Quite correctly, Lt. Colonel Robert Bowman, Director of the US Air Force missile defense program, recently called missile defense, “the missing link to a First Strike.”

We can dismiss the argument about Iran missiles. The Azeri offer of Putin for US missile shield would stand on the Iran border. The current US plans for Europe call to mind the September 2000 report which in addition to calling for regime change in Iraq also demanded upgraded priority to missile defense as a tool to “project US power.” That report, ‘Rebuilding America’s Defenses,’ by the hawkish Project for the New American Century, where Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld were members, declared, ‘The United States must develop and deploy global missile defenses to defend the American homeland and American allies, and to provide a secure basis for US power projection around the world.’ (author’s emphasis). (...)

United Nations may officially end search for Iraq's illicit weapons

The search for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction appears close to an official conclusion, several years after their absence became a foregone one. (...)

Pace fired to clear way for “national emergency,” Iran nuclear strike?

by Paul Craig Roberts

The Bush regime’s plan to attack Iran with nuclear weapons puts General Pace’s departure in a different light. How can President Bush succeed with an order to attack with nuclear weapons when America’s highest ranking military officer says that such an order is “illegal and immoral” and that everyone in the military has an “absolute responsibility” to disobey it? (...)

UK-led forces kill 16 Iraqi civilians

Night-time raids by British-led forces in Iraq's southern province of Maysan have left 16 civilians killed and at least 35 wounded. (...)

US tank bombs Iraq Sunni mosque

Muslim Scholars Association has said in an online statement that US forces bombed a Sunni mosque in Baquba, killing five Iraqis. (...)

Yard man admits leaking terror report

A civilian police employee today admitted misconduct in a public office by leaking details of plans for a large-scale terrorist attack to a newspaper.

The leaked report formed the basis for a Sunday Times article published on April 22.

The article warned that al-Qa'eda leaders in Iraq, backed by supporters in Iran, were planning large-scale attacks on Britain and the West. (...)

Sure, blame it on the police guy...

"Irrefutable Evidence" and Bush-Cheney Media Manipulation

by Gareth Porter

When Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns declared in Paris this week that there was "irrefutable evidence" that Iran was arming the Taliban forces in Afghanistan, he was unwittingly echoing a previous categorical statement that was aimed at priming public opinion for war.

On September 20, 2002, Dick Cheney said, "We now have irrefutable evidence that [Saddam] has once again set up and reconstituted his program to take uranium, to enrich it to sufficiently high grade, so that it will function as the base material as a nuclear weapon." (...)

Lying Us Into War, Again

by Charley Reese

If the senator, who seems to be one of those who loves war as long as he doesn't have to fight it, really believes that we can attack Iran without Iranian retaliation, then he's naive. If he knows better, he's a liar, and to lie the American people into a second war before the other lied-into war in Iraq is even over is despicable. He should be shunned by all decent people.

As for Iran's alleged threat to "wipe Israel off the map," that is propaganda based on a mistranslation. Nobody in Iran has ever threatened to attack Israel militarily. The accurate quotes from Iranians have been simply that Israel as a Zionist state will eventually collapse, just as the Soviet Union as a communist state did. Iranian officials have even explicitly said they have no desire or intention of attacking Israel. (...)

On the Palestinian Crisis

by Jim Lobe

If you’re interested in and alarmed about how the Bush administration and its neo-conservative supporters contributed to the current crisis in the Palestinian Territories, there is probably nothing as clear and concise out there as Friday’s analysis, from which the following excerpt is taken, by M.J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum.

«Today it is almost amusing to contemplate the professions of horror on the part of right-wing Israelis (and their neocon friends) who scream “bloody murder” about an outcome they helped effect and actually welcome.

The name of their game was, is, and always will be making sure that Israel has “no partner” with whom to negotiate. Their worst fear is of Palestinians like Mahmoud Abbas who is a credible negotiating partner. They were undoubtedly relieved to hear that, as Roni Shaked reported in today’s Yediot, “the Prime Minister's advisers [declared] the Palestinian Authority dead, [saying] there is no one to talk to… and that the Bush administration will not put pressure on Olmert at this stage to come up with ideas for renewing the negotiations with Abbas and promoting a diplomatic horizon.”

I understand that this is a difficult point to assimilate. But the fact is that Israeli (and American) right-wingers are rooting for the Palestinian extremists. And that is why, today, with Hamas fully in control of Gaza, they are as happy as Red Sox fans when the team is eleven games up on the Yankees on Labor Day»

The entire analysis can be found here. (...)

No proof of Iran supplying weapons to Taliban - Gates contradicts Burns

There's no proof that Iranian government is supplying weapons to Taliban, US Defense Secretary was forced to admit today, contradicting a statement by State Department official who accused the Iranian government of transferring the weapons.

"I have seen analysis suggesting a considerable flow of weapons and support from Iran," Robert Gates told reporters in Brussels. "And I have not seen information that would directly tie it to approval by the government of Iran." (...)

So we're down from "irrefutable" proof, to "no" proof. Semantics, I suppose... And since it means essentially the same, there's of course no need for any new headlines from the mainstream media. They'll stick with "irrefutable".

Will Sudan be Re-Colonized?

by Stephen Gowans

There is no shortage of turmoil in Darfur for Western trouble-makers to exploit. Conflicts over water and grazing land have raged for decades between sedentary farmers and nomadic tribes. And now there’s a new flashpoint: who will reap the benefits of the region’s new found oil resources?

In other places, the practice of the United States, Britain, Germany and other Western powers has been to inflame tensions within countries whose resources and cheap labor make them attractive targets for economic take-over, or whose public policies block or impose conditions on foreign investment and trade. The turmoil is often used as a pretext for intervention. While the real reasons for intervention are inextricably bound up with profit-making opportunities, the stated reasons are invariably presented as being related to selfless humanitarianism. This was as true of the Nazis, who said they were intervening militarily in countries across Europe to rescue oppressed German minorities and to save the continent from communism, as it is of the United States today, which, we’re expected to believe, can’t afford to provide healthcare to all its citizens, but can spend countless billions on wars to deliver democracy and freedom to non-citizens half way across the globe. (...)

Hitler 1938, Cheney 2007?

by Jeffrey Steinberg

On Sept. 12, 1938, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech before a Nazi Party gathering in Nuremberg, belittling news reports that he was preparing an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Hitler lied that he had nothing but the greatest respect for the Czechoslovak people. His problem was only with the regime of the President of Czechoslovakia, Eduard Benes. Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia surrender control over the heavily German-populated Sudetenland region, but forswore military action. For a few days, the world naively breathed a sigh of relief that war had been averted; this, despite the fact that on Sept. 10, in reply to a speech by President Benes appealing for calm and peace, Nazi official Hermann Göring had railed against the Czechs, "This miserable pygmy race without culture, no one knows where it came from, is oppressing a cultured people [Sudeten Germans] and behind it is Moscow and the eternal mask of the Jew devil." (...)

Genesis World Report - Webster Tarpley (June 14)

(audio link)

Our Enemy's Enemy

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Gates: US Missile Defense Plans Still On

The U.S. will proceed with its plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe whether or not any agreement is reached on an alternative Russian proposal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. (...)

Afghan Minister Dismisses U.S. Claims

Afghanistan's defense minister on Thursday dismissed claims by a top U.S. State Department official that there was "irrefutable evidence'' that the Iranian government was providing arms to Taliban rebels. (...)

It’s Official: The Crash of the U.S. Economy has begun

by Richard C. Cook

It’s official. Mark your calendars. The crash of the U.S. economy has begun. It was announced the morning of Wednesday, June 13, 2007, by economic writers Steven Pearlstein and Robert Samuelson in the pages of the Washington Post, one of the foremost house organs of the U.S. monetary elite. (...)

Al-Qaeda is a front organization of CIA and MOSSAD : Mumbai based group of intellectuals and human rights activists

The Mumbai based group alleged that Al-Qaeda is a front organization of CIA and MOSSAD. "There is enough evidence that the Al-Qaeda is a front organization of the CIA and MOSSAD. The Bush junta has used the bogey of terror and of Al Qaeda to justify his unending and ever expanding Global War on Terror, which is only a means of capturing the resources of the world and of establishing the sole hegemony of Israel in West Asia," said the group of activists and intellectuals. The group is holding a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday to "expose the links between Al-Qaeda and the CIA-MOSSAD" (...)

That's basically it, yes...

Tony Blair has turned Britain into a land where we are all prisoners

by Chris Atkins

Even George Orwell would be shocked. He described the sinister machinations of a totalitarian police state in his novel, 1984, and laid bare the danger of eroding our basic civil liberties, including the right to freedom of speech and the right to privacy. (...)

US: "Irrefutable" Proof Iran Arms Taliban

The United States has "irrefutable" evidence that Iran is transferring weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, with the knowledge of the Iranian government, and NATO has intercepted some of the shipments, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday. (...)

Yes, the Iranians are arming their worst enemies, the Taliban, while at the same time giving the U.S. one more excuse to attack them. That's about as "irrefutable" as Saddam's WMD's...

Revered Iraqi Shia shrine bombed again

Suspected Al Qaeda militants blew up the two minarets of a revered Shia shrine in the Iraqi town of Samarra on Wednesday, 15 months after a first bombing sparked brutal sectarian killings.

The area had been heavily fortified since last year’s attack, but the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had on Tuesday been a row between old and new security teams supposed to protect the shrine. (...)

Hmmm. Anyway, I wonder if those Sunnis who just got new explosives were behind it...

The Deceptions of the Six-Day War - Dutch TV

Dutch former UN observer describes how he witnessed how Israel provoked their Arab neighbors in the run up to the Six-Day War.

The Neoconservative Threat to American Freedom

by Paul Craig Roberts

Just as Goebbels said, some lies are too big to be disbelieved. It is this disbelief that is so dangerous. The inability of Americans to see through the Big Lie to the secret agenda allows the neoconservatives to escape accountability and to continue with their plot.

The neoconservatives also believe that nuclear attack on Iran will isolate America in the world and, thereby, give the government control over the American people. The denunciations that will be hurled at Americans from every quarter will force the country to wrap itself in the flag and to treat domestic critics as foreign enemies. Not only free speech but also truth itself will disappear along with every civil liberty. (...)

Putin’s Censored Press Conference

by Mike Whitney

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an hour and a half-long press conference which was attended by many members of the world media. The contents of that meeting---in which Putin answered all questions concerning nuclear proliferation, human rights, Kosovo, democracy and the present confrontation with the United States over missile defense in Europe---have been completely censored by the press. Apart from one brief excerpt which appeared in a Washington Post editorial, (and which was used to criticize Putin) the press conference has been scrubbed from the public record. It never happened. (...)

Putin Interview with Newspaper Journalists from G8 Member Countries

"We did not initiate the withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But what response did we give when we discussed this issue with our American partners? We said that we do not have the resources and desire to establish such a system. But as professionals we both understand that a missile defence system for one side and no such a system for the other creates an illusion of security and increases the possibility of a nuclear conflict."

"It is destroying the strategic equilibrium in the world. In order to restore that balance without setting up a missile defence system we will have to create a system to overcome missile defence, and this is what we are doing now."

"An arms race really is unfolding. Well, was it we who withdrew from the ABM Treaty? We must react to what our partners do. We already told them two years ago, “don’t do this, you don’t need to do this. What are you doing? You are destroying the system of international security. You must understand that you are forcing us to take retaliatory steps.” They said: “okay, no problem, go ahead. We are not enemies. Do what you want to." I think that this was based on the illusion that Russia would have nothing to answer with. But we warned them. No, they did not listen to us. Then we heard about them developing low-yield nuclear weapons and they are continuing to develop these charges."

"But perhaps it would be better to look for other ways and means to resolve the problem rather than create low-yield nuclear weapons, lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons, and thereby put humankind on the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But they are not listening to us. We are saying: do not deploy weapons in space. We don’t want to do that. No, it continues: "whoever is not with us is against us". What is that? Is it a dialogue or a search for compromise? The entire dialogue can be summed up by: whoever is not with us is against us." (...)

We're in a lot of trouble.

'Military plan against Iran is ready'

Predicting that Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon within three years and claiming to have a strike plan in place, senior American military officers have told The Jerusalem Post they support President George W. Bush's stance to do everything necessary to stop the Islamic Republic's race for nuclear power. (...)

America's strategy in Iraq: Arm the Sunnis

With the four-month-old "surge" in American troops showing only modest success in curbing insurgent attacks, American commanders are turning to another strategy they acknowledge is fraught with risk: arming Sunni Arab groups that have promised to fight al-Qaida-linked militants who have been their allies in the past. (...)

America's actual strategy in Iraq: give everyone guns, and hope for some shooting...

AFRICOM and the U.S. Resource Wars in Africa

Guns & Butter

Interview with journalist and human rights and genocide investigator, Keith Harmon Snow. The new U.S. command, AFRICOM; the crisis in northern Uganda; the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa; military programs and covert operations; Somalia and Ethiopia; oil and mineral resources; the Darfur region of Sudan; NGOs. Visit Keith Snow's website at www.allthingspass.com.

(audio link)

Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop

The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday on Face The Nation. (...)

Everlasting US pyramids in Iraqi sands

by Tom Engelhardt

For a while, to avoid the taint of that word "permanent", the major US bases in Iraq were called "enduring camps" by the Pentagon. Five or six of them are simply massive, including Camp Victory, the US military headquarters adjacent to Baghdad International Airport on the outskirts of the capital, Balad Air Base, north of Baghdad (which has air traffic to rival Chicago's O'Hare), and al-Asad Air Base in the Western desert near the Syrian border.

These are big enough to contain multiple bus routes, huge shops, movie theaters, brand-name fast-food restaurants and, in one case, even a miniature golf course. At the base at Tallil in the south, in 2006, a mess hall was being built to seat 6,000. And that just skims the surface of the Bush administration's bases. (...)

The incredibly underreported issue of U.S. imperial base building in Iraq, and all over the world.

Russia Wants Freeze on U.S. Missile Plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments, reported by Russian news agencies, suggested the Kremlin is unhappy that the United States has continued discussions on its plans to deploy facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic following Russia's counteroffer of joint use of a radar station in Azerbaijan.

"It's necessary for Washington, at a minimum, to freeze the deployment of missile defense elements in Europe for a period of study and negotiations on the Russian proposal," ITAR-Tass quoted Lavrov as saying. (...)

Broken Lives and Broken Hearts

by Ali al-Fadhily

With the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq in its fifth year, one leading study estimates that more than 655,000 Iraqis have been killed -- with no end to the violence yet in sight. Left behind are loved ones who continue to mourn their loss, as well as what might have been. (...)

Syrian and Iranian Generals in Intensive War Consultations

According to the Iranian scenario, the timeline for hostilities has already been fixed between Washington and Jerusalem - and so has the plan of action. The US will strike Iran first, after which Israel will use the opportunity to go for Syria, targeting its air force, missile bases and deployments, as well as Hizballah’s missile and weapons stocks which Iran replenished this year. (...)

Homeland Security: "Many More 9/11s Are Inevitable"

by Steve Watson

While announcing new security guidelines to make mandatory the fingerprinting of any travelers leaving the US, deputy secretary of the US department of homeland security Michael Jackson has stated that another attack on the scale of September 11 2001 is "inevitable".

In a report carried by the London Guardian Mr Jackson was quoted as adding that the most "catastrophic" threat to the airline industry was a rocket-propelled grenade attack similar to the one that nearly downed an Israeli airliner in Kenya five years ago. He said another attack on the scale of September 11 2001 was inevitable. "It is not clear whether it could be in aviation ... but it would be silly not to understand that we will have many more September 11s. It is a long-term struggle." (...)

GOP Debates: Round 3

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Saudi prince reaped $2 billion in British arms deal

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family and the kingdom's former ambassador to the United States, pocketed about $2 billion in secret payments as part of an $80 billion arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia first signed in 1985, British media reported Thursday.

The reports revived questions about the British government's decision in December to drop a fraud investigation into the deal, which has been plagued for almost two decades by allegations of bribes and secret slush funds. (...)

Bush signals missile shield to go ahead

President George W. Bush thanked Poland on Friday for being ready to host the U.S. missile shield and sent a clear signal he would not scrap the plan in the face of an alternative offer from Russia. (...)

Genesis World Report - Webster Tarpley (June 7)

(audio link)

Campaigners demand US reveals fate of missing 39

Dozens of people who have vanished after allegedly being detained by the United States during counter-terrorism operations were named in a report published by human rights groups yesterday.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and four other groups are demanding that the US government accounts for 39 people whom they believe have been held at secret CIA prisons since the attacks of September 11, 2001. (...)

CIA ran secret prisons for detainees in Europe, says inquiry

The CIA operated secret prisons in Europe where terrorism suspects could be interrogated and were allegedly tortured, an official inquiry will conclude today.

Despite denials by their governments, senior Polish and Romanian security officials have confirmed to the Council of Europe that their countries were used to hold some of America's most important prisoners captured after 9/11 in secret. (...)

Putin turns tables on Bush with new missile plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned the tables on Washington on Thursday by suggesting the United States use a Russian-controlled radar instead of U.S. anti-missile hardware in central Europe. (...)

Your move, George...

JFK airport plot 'a US setup'

She said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant key to breaking up the alleged plot had presented himself as an Islamic missionary from the United States while visiting the homes of Abdul Kadir and Amir Ibrahiim.

The FBI's informant, whom she called "the source", "is the only person culpable of any of the activities mentioned in the complaint. (...)

Yeah, happens every time... Too bad the story is not on the news anymore...

Complicit, Cowardly Corporate Media Hides Bilderberg

by Paul Joseph Watson

The Bilderberg Group meeting, an annual conference at which the consensus for future global policy is provably manifested, again passed by with barely a mention on behalf of America's corporate media. (...)

Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Secretary

by Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones

Freelance reporter Matt Lepacek, reporting for Infowars.com, was arrested for asking a question to one of Giuliani's staff members in a press conference. The press secretary identified the New York based reporter as having previously asked Giuliani about his prior knowledge of WTC building collapses and ordered New Hampshire state police to arrest him. (...)


The new America.

Turkey launches large-scale attack on Kurdish militants - media

Observers are not ruling out the possibility that the current operation will precede a full-scale invasion into northern Iraq, where up to 3,500 PKK separatists, poised to commit terrorist attacks in Turkey, are reportedly based. (...)

US Missiles in Europe: Beyond Deterrence to First-Strike Threat

by Prof. Francis A. Boyle

By means of a US first strike about 99%+ of Russian nuclear forces would be taken out. So Bush Jr. needs ABMs to take care of what remains. And in any event what really matters here is the perception. Namely, the United States Government believes that with the deployment of a facially successful first strike capability, they can move beyond deterrence and into "compellence." (...)

Bush to Putin: Join us on missile defense

"My message will be, Vladimir - I call him Vladimir - that you shouldn't fear a missile-defense system," Bush said after meeting with Czech leaders at the ninth-century Prague Castle. "As a matter of fact, why don't you cooperate with us on a missile-defense system? Why don't you participate with the United States?" (...)

Putin is not falling for it, because he knows this "missile-defense" has nothing to do with defense...

Experts cast doubt on credibility of JFK terror plot

Jake Magish, an engineer with Supersafe Tank Systems, also cast doubt on the credibility of the plot, saying: "The fantasy that I've heard about the people saying 'they will blow the tank and destroy the airport,' is nonsense."

"There are people there responding to hysteria, I think. But from an engineering point of view, if someone is successful in blowing a hole into a tank, they will just have a fire from one tank." (...)

Could al Qaeda Attack Trigger War With Iran?

by Gareth Porter

Following revelations of a George W. Bush administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al Qaeda attack on the U.S. that could be portrayed as planned on Iranian soil, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinksi warned last week that Washington might use such an incident as a pretext to bomb Iran. (...)

The problem is, Washington doesn't just wait for "al Qaeda attacks" to happen...

How to Foil a Terrorist Plot in Seven Simple Steps

by Nora Ephron

Giuliani Uses JFK Plot to Bolster Candidacy

"We need things like the Patriot Act, we need things like electronic surveillance. It has to be legal, but we need it. We need things like interrogation techniques to get information from people. Legal again, but it has to be aggressive," Mr. Giuliani said. "These are the things that keep us safe in a world in which there are more than a few people organized around Islamic terrorists who want to harm us and kill us." (...)

JFK Four: Connecting Propaganda Dots from Jamaat al-Muslimeen to Hugo Chávez?

by Kurt Nimmo

Plot to blow up JFK airport disrupted

Much of the U.S. government's case is built on information obtained with the help of an FBI informant who is not named in the complaint but is described as having been convicted of federal drug trafficking and criminal-conspiracy charges. The informant's sentence for his latest conviction "is pending as part of his cooperation agreement with the government," according to the complaint filed Friday and unsealed Saturday.

Defreitas said he knew the informant from an unidentified Brooklyn mosque, according to the complaint, and drew him into his alleged scheme. The two are described as making repeated visits to JFK together to conduct surveillance and make videotapes of potential targets. The two also traveled to Guyana together. (...)

Well, nothing suspicious here...

Infighting splits US war protesters

Lawrence Wittner, professor of history at the State University of New York, agrees: 'The movement needs a powerful, national peace organisation, with a mass membership,' he added. 'Only then will it impress the politicians.' Others believe the only way for the peace movement to make a difference now is for its various groups formally to break with the political parties with which they are aligned - in other words, the Democrats. 'We need to make the Democrats really feel the shame of their capitulation. If they get it, maybe they can retrieve some respect from the people who actually voted them into power,' said Gary Leupp, professor of history at Tufts University. (...)

The only way for the peace movement to make a difference and impress the politicians is for it to join the 9/11 Truth movement.

Missile shield ups chance of atomic conflict - Putin

"The missile shield only creates the theoretical illusion that one is protected, but the possibility that a nuclear conflict is unleashed is actually greater," Putin told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine in an interview to be published on Sunday. (...)

Four charged over JFK 'bomb plot'

The plot, which did not go past the planning stages, involved blowing up the airport's fuel tanks and pipeline, justice department officials said.

The alleged plot was brought to light when Mr Defreitas recruited an FBI informant to help him in the plan, officials said. (...)

No kidding!...

Israeli agents 'helped Entebbe hijackers'

An extraordinary claim that Israeli intelligence may have had a hand in an airline hijacking before sending in commandos to rescue the hostages at Entebbe was made to the Foreign Office. (...)

Cheney and Iran

by Kevin Drum

Good 'ol David Wurmser. A neocon's neocon. Co-author in 1996 of "A Clean Break," the infamous document that proposed giving up on peace in the Middle East in favor of armed attacks on Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and, while we're at it, Iraq too. A man who proposed attacking South America in retaliation for 9/11. The guy who keeps Cheney bucked up when things look bad. (...)

Related: A Clean Break (1996)

Welcome to the summer of hate

by Pepe Escobar

Forty years ago, the world seemed to be singing in tune. On June 1, 1967, in London, The Beatles released their eighth and arguably most influential album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely